Despite rebukes, Congressman tweets BJP stands to gain from blast

Bangalore: His party made it clear that Shakeel Ahmad's tweet on Wednesday morning on the bomb blast near the BJP office in Bangalore was out of line. Undeterred, the Congress spokesperson did a Take 2 in the evening, tweeting "Karnataka HM R Ashok says blast near our office was aimed to kill BJP leaders due to elections. This will also generate some sympathy."

Karnataka votes on May 5 and the BJP hopes to return to power. Karnataka Home Minister R Ashok has described the morning's blast as a terror attack which hoped to target BJP workers who were at the party office because it is the last day for candidates to file their nomination papers.

Mr Ahmad provoked rebukes from senior Congress leaders on Wednesday morning with his first tweet, posted an hour after the blast in which 16 people were injured. "If the blast near BJP's office in Bangalore is a terror attack, it will certainly help the BJP politically on the eve of election," he said.

In response, a Twitter account for the BJP in Karnataka, said, "Congress Spokesperson Shakeel Ahmad's tweet on blasts in Bangalore is insensitive and inhumane."

The Congress appeared to agree. Union Minister of State for Home RPN Singh, said, "In matters relating to terror attacks, no political capital should be extracted." Congress spokesperson Janardhan Dwivedi reiterated that message. "The incident is attached to terrorism... it must not be looked in the way of political profit and loss," he said.

Mr Ahmad justified his tweets by saying "I am in politics for 28 years, I would not give any irresponsible statement. Their Home Minister has said that it was a conspiracy to attack the BJP in the state. The blasts should not be linked to politics, but it is obvious that you gain sympathy if a blast occurs in front of your house."